


Synthesis

by NovemberOH (YouScruffyNerfHerder), YouScruffyNerfHerder



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Friendship, Gen, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, No Romance, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Pre-Battle of Scarif, Pre-Star Wars: A New Hope, Pre-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-12 02:40:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13537944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouScruffyNerfHerder/pseuds/NovemberOH, https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouScruffyNerfHerder/pseuds/YouScruffyNerfHerder
Summary: Young Annah is about to take off for the Rebellion when her best friend, the droid 54-G3, "Sage", gives her disturbing news - the Empire is synthesizing kyber crystals artificially. Now it's up to the two of them, and a haphazard pilot and his beloved ship, to put an end to the Empire's deadly plot.OC's only, MG/young audiences/family friendly, post 2014 CanonMay the Force Be With You!





	1. Journey of a Thousand Miles

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This was inspired by the stories of myself and a good friend if mine who would be mortified if I mentioned him here.  
> Go watch the movies, J!

“Whaddya think?” Annah asked.

She spun around and around, admiring her new jacket from every angle she could see.

It was real red-brown Bantha leather with fantastic fur fringe and a trademark rippled trim. But what she loved most was the orange firebird logo on the shoulder, bright as her persimmon hair.

54-G3, "Sage" nodded his small, boxy body and whistled his appreciation before beepbooping a question.

“Joining? Nah, I’m not old enough. But they got me a job on the base, on Dantooine! Maybe then in a year or two, if the war isn’t over by then, I can join up, become a real rebel!”

The droid beeped a dry reply.

“Then I’ll learn! Sheesh! You don’t need  _ that _ much skill to use a blaster anyway.”

Another snide series of sounds.

“Oh, hush.”

Annah didn’t mind her current job at the Cantina, after all she was only bussing tables and doing dishes and mopping floors.

And anything was better than slavery.

But she dreamed of bigger things, more heroic things. 

It was not hard to feel the Empire’s chokehold on a world like Er’kit, from the random searches and checkpoints to the Stormtroopers patrolling the sparse streets.

The only people who seemed to benefit were those who owned a scrap of the crimson desert, or those who owned its people.

A speeder zoomed by outside Annah’s underground home, sending cascades of sand tumbling through the windows and making her cough violently.

Sage beeped wildly in frantic alarm.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” she croaked over his anxious beeps.

Flopping down unceremoniously on the bed beside the droid, she patted a hand lazily on the top of his squarish body.

“Why are you so worried about me joining the Rebellion anyway? Half the people at the Cantina are in with the Alliance anyway.”

The droid booped a bitter reply.

“You can’t throw anyone, so what’s your point?”

A noisy answer.

“Yeah, well, I’m not throwing anyone either!”

Sage sighed a long, low whistle, his miniature receiving dish and bent antenna drooping.

“What is it?”

He beeped somberly.

“You can tell me anything, Sage.”

His ocular projector flickered and faltered to life; Annah covered her fist with the sleeve of the coveralls tied at her waist and wiped away a coating of dust.

The droid sounded gratefully.

Finally, a bluish image of a man began to resolve, his dark hair an unmanageable and graying mop, his eyes rimmed darkly and heavy with exhaustion.

“An Imperial Science Officer?”

The uniform was unmistakable, black and gray and intimidating, as was his rank, an impressive bar of color.

The man stood at the counter, in a lab presumably, dropper in hand, petri dish sitting in front of him.

“Project Nova-Stardust, test number 47,” he announced as he adjusted the camera’s lens, “Let’s hope this one isn’t a complete failure,” his words dripped with sarcasm.

He took a deep breath to steel himself before releasing a droplet into the dish.

Nothing happened.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

He was about to give up, set aside the dropper, but then he decided to add another, then another drop until the mixture began to fizzle.

It popped and crackled, sputtering and spattering, the dish rattled on the counter’s surface as it shook and shuddered, until with a great crescendo it stopped.

The scientist approached the counter slowly, as if afraid of his own creation. Gingerly, he picked up the petri with the tips of his fingers before smashing it down. He brushed away the shattered glass, all that remained was a round, hard precipitate, clouded white.

Sliding it down the counter’s edge and into his hand, he began to examine it before looking left and right, seeing if there were any witnesses to his genesis. 

He switched off the camera and the image disappeared.

That substance could be something - anything - but a feeling leapt in Annah’s heart. She knew.

“That was kyber crystal,” she said breathlessly, “Real, synthesized kyber crystal.”

The droid beside her nodded his whole body sadly.

“The jedi used them for centuries in their lightsabers, that’s powerful stuff, really  _ really _ powerful. If the Empire has a way to straight-up  _ make _ them-”

Sage sank low on his rollers and booped lowly.

Annah leapt up.

“We have to tell the Rebellion. This is too important, this could change everything!” she cried, pacing.

Suddenly, the droid began to shudder and shake, beeping frantically.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. But if you can’t show them that- there’s no way they’d believe me without proof.”

He stopped shaking. The droid’s internal chamber always had a mysterious rattle, it dawned on her why.

He opened his lower hatch and spat out a fragment of the synthesized crystal.

“Someday you’re gonna tell me how you came to find all this.”

Sage shrugged half his little body.

“This will do,” Annah said, picking up the shard and turning it over in the light, “This will do nicely.”

* * *

Annah raced into the cantina, dodging the crowds, ducking between bodies, sloshing a few drinks and ignoring the protests.

Sage had a bit more trouble evading the thick gatherings and stomping feet but managed to catch up to her by the time she’d bushed through to the bar.

“Where’s Danterra?” she asked breathlessly.

Plafina, a Twi’lek with dusky orange skin was pouring a long line of shots with a pair of bottles. She didn’t look up but smiled at the girl.

“Annah! Are you working tonight?”

“No, but I need to talk to Dan. It’s important, super important, fate-of-the-Galaxy type of thing.”

Plafina sighed and gestured with a now-empty bottle to a lighted table in the back corner. A man sat regal as an emperor, both arms swung around the curve of the seats.

Danterra was a regular, there almost nightly, and liked to act like he owned the place. He was also the primary connection to the Rebellion on that side of the desert.

“Ah, I’d heard you’d become our newest recruit,” he said, waving a hand to offer a seat across the table, “Anything I can get you, sweetheart?”

Annah sank into the chair, “Only a message to the Rebellion.”

She fished in her pocket a bit too long for dramatic flair before producing the kyber shard and laying it flat on the table, sliding it over.

“They’re synthesizing artificial kyber crystal, the Empire. I can’t name my… informant but it has to be something big.”

Dan’s friends around the table fell silent.

He gingerly picked up the shard and passed it to one of them, a human with short untidy hair and scrutinizing almond-shaped eyes.

“You’re right, this is  _ very  _ big. You sure it’s legit?”

Annah nodded, “An Imperial Science Officer is making them. If the Empire has that formula, it can only mean one thing.”

“A whole lotta kaboom.” Danterra turned to the woman on his left, “Time to holo the Fulcrum.”

“Don’t.”

The man with the kyber shard held up a hand and the table again quieted at his sharp word. 

“True kyber crystal has a certain unusual sheen, a kind of rainbow fire called ‘the waters of the kyber’. But this doesn’t have it.” 

The man tossed the “kyber” at Annah without warning, making her bobble it in her hands.

“An ordinary piece of glass.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you right now!” Annah cried at the droid she knew was following her up the sandy dune.

The soft stuff didn’t make stomping off very effective but it kicked up in big, dramatic clouds which made her feel slightly better.

Sage beeped apologetically as he trailed beside her.

“What do you  _ mean _ you didn’t know? That isn’t your crystal?”

The droid sounded a downtrodden reply.

“You  _ found _ it,” she repeated incredulously, “Just- just combing the desert, you came across it.”

He nodded his little body.

“And the vid?”

His answer was a long sequence of boops and whistles.

Annah sank down to her knees in the hot sand to get closer to his level. She placed her hands on either side of his boxy form and tilted him up to look him right in the lens.

“You’re sure about that? It’s not some… sliced holo or some weird staging by the Empire or something?”

He shook from side to side ‘no’.

“Okay.”

She stood and brushed the blood-colored dust rom her brown leggings.

“Okay. If you really think it’s real, if you really think the Empire is synthesizing kyber somewhere, it’s up to us to investigate. The Rebellion won’t believe us now, not after all of that. But we can figure this out ourselves.”

As Annah turned to head back down the sandy hills, the glass shard tumbled from her pocket and into the dust.

She bent down to pick it up again and it almost felt as if it  _ leapt _ into her hand of its own accord.

In the crimson setting sun, it shone a brilliant, iridescent fire.


	2. Choices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annah decides her future.

Annah peered at the holo again, squinted, rubber her eyes, and sighed.

It had taken Sage the better part of an hour alone to come up with this long, nonsensical string of numbers, metadata, and she felt like she’d been staring at it for twice as long.

“Well, I think this part is the date,” she finally pronounced, pointing to the first few digits, “Year, month, day, in the Imperial format. That would make this about six weeks ago. The rest I’m not sure about. Planetary co-ords, machine address? This could be anything.”

Sage beeped a question.

“Those guys do  _ not  _ come cheap, even something as simple as this.”

The droid opened his lower hatch and spat out a handful of credit coins among other things. He must have swept up the cantina while she was asleep; they kept him around to clean up old bottle caps and dropped change but he was supposed to turn it all in at the end of the night.

Annah sifted through the coins and kipple gingerly with her fingers, picking out about a full hundred in loose change.

“Well, that’s a start,” she remarked, counting it all in her plam. “Bet Plafina would know where to find a slicer, too.”

Sage booped enthusiastically as she grabbed her jacket and raced to the door.

* * *

 

“Annah, there you are!” Plafina cried, stopping her cleaning only long enough to wave, “Danterra was looking for you!”

“He was? Why?”

Sage beeped in alarm and Annah bent down to give him a reassuring pat.

Plafina leaned in close and said lowly, “He’s going back to the Rebel base on Dantooine, he said he wants to take you with him.”

Alone on a ship with Danterra. Even if Annah didn’t have unfinished business to deal with, the idea would disgust her.

“Plafina, I need to know where I can find a slicer. It’s a quick job, I just need some data interpreted.”

“A slicer, huh? Well, I do know a guy, Ower Pragant on Galidraan III. He’s not the best, but it’s a quick jump and if what you need really is simple, he should be your man.”

“On Galidraan III? Thank you, Plaf, you’re the best!”

She turned to run out, Sage taking off after.

“Wait!” Plafina cried, “What about Danterra? What about Dantooine?”

Annah pretended not to hear as she sped off.

* * *

 

Sage whistled a question as Annah paced.

“I don’t know. I mean, this is the  _ Rebellion _ , this what I’ve always wanted. They gave me a real jacket and everything! But…”

The small droid encouraged her to go on.

“But this synthesized crystal thing is real. And that’s a big deal. Really big. Really  _ really _ big and bad. And we’re pretty much the only ones who can do something about it.”

The droid asked again.

She stopped pacing. She turned to face him.

“You’re sure that video is real? Really, actually sure?”

He nodded his small body and booped a reply.

“Then I’m doing this. It’s  _ for _ the Rebellion after all. When they find out why I’ve had this ‘dereliction of duty’ or whatever, they’ll understand.”

She tugged a bag out of the closet in the corner, sending a mountain of yet-to-be washed cloths tumbling out. She started stuffing everything she could reach in it, everything vaguely important, everything she couldn’t leave behind.

Then she stopped.

“What about you?” she asked Sage, “You belong to the Cantina, not me.”

His answer was a long stream of sounds.

“You  _ what _ ? You’re a talented little slicer yourself, you know that?”

Sage beeped in a far too self-congratulatory way.

“I’ve never owned a droid before. And mind you, Plafina won’t be pleased with me taking you away.”

Annah resumed stuffing her few possessions into the bag.

“Guess it’s another good reason to never come back to this forsaken sand pit,” she shrugged, “FIne. I consent to be your new owner. Now let’s get out of here.”

* * *

The Er’kit Spaceport was treacherous on a good day and those were in short supply.

Traders - or smugglers, Annah couldn’t be sure - hauled huge crates of Spice on their shoulders with one arm, the other hand resting easily on their blasters. The native Er’kit had no such isjsues, however, towering above everyone, their goods far out of reach. 

Small herds of banthas and nerfs were herded through thick crowds where young children darted and played, sticking their fingers in unattended pockets.

Annah had to look away when the slavers shuffled through their new ‘recruits’. She hated the whole practice and hated more that she couldn’t do anything about it. It made her sick to her stomach how grateful she was to leave it all behind.

Sage gave her a nudge and a reassuring string of whistles.

“I know, buddy. Let’s see how far we can get.”

The tiny droid kept watch, humming threateningly at anyone who got too close as Annah peered at the signs proclaiming itineraries and destinations.

More than a handful were headed to the Core - a few even going to Courescant - but no one seemed interested in anything even near the right sector.

“Headed somewhere, there doll?”

Annah whipped around, Sage already scooting in front of her protectively.

A young man, certainly too young to call her ‘doll’ sat perched on a stack of abandoned crates.

His mop of mud-brown hair was slick with grease and streaks of dirt slashed across his face. Annah guessed by the way the red-striped trousers puddled around his legs and lashed around his waist with multiple belts that he hadn’t really earned their mark.

“I’m trying to get to Galidraan III. Can you take me there?”

The boy’s eyes went wide. 

“No. Nuh-uh. No way am I goin’ there, there’s an Imperial station the size of a city hangin’ over it.”

“Two hundred credits says you will,” she replied, fishing for a gold chip from her pocket and flipping it into her hand. 

He sighed and hopped down from his seat.

“Fine. I can get ya there winin the week.”

She took up his hand and closed his fingers around a stack of chips.

“For two-fifty you get me there by tomorrow. Make me and my friend here your first stop.”

His eyes looked about ready to bulge out of his head.

“Show me to your ship?”

“Yes- yes ma’am!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate any and all Kudos and Reviews!
> 
> This will be updated sporadically, I'm challenging myself to write in order for once instead of jumping around like usual. Wish me luck!


End file.
